92 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[March, 



cution within the sum named as the estimate ; thereby fixing a maximum 

 amount, and that the difficulty arose in fixing a maximum. No mention is 

 made of a schedule, or power of making deductions by any given scale. 



Another plan, letting out works, has been adopted on broken works, that 

 is, where companies have taken works out of the hands of contractors, by 

 allowing other parties to finish them, at a per eentage on the expenditure of 

 7 to 10 per cent., a check being kept on the contractor by the companies in 

 the weekly pay bills. I have also known other public works, as gas works, 

 so carried into execution. This system is also applied to the agents of con- 

 tractors and extensive commercial works, a salary being fixed, and a per 

 eentage being given on the amount of profits made by the concern. 



From the number of responsibilities and restrictions laid on contractors, 

 as previously enumerated, one would have thought there would have been no 

 necessity for the remark, that competition had taken place to too great an 

 extent, and was unsafe. Do contractors rely for profits on extras and un- 

 settled amounts ? there being many amounts which remain unsettled for 10 

 years after the completion or opening of several railways already executed, 

 or do they rely on the law's delay ? let the cause now in Chancery, of Ranger 

 versius the Great Western company furnish the reply. Again, as to securities ; 

 are there no bubble companies ? and on what has the contractor to rely on 

 for letting his plant fall into their hands ? I can only think his protection 

 must be the cash in his pocket, and his being ready for active defence. I 

 have known a poor contractor ruined, by having his works pushed in bad 

 weather, and he was obliged to leave the works without redress. Ready 

 money is Aladdin's lamp, and will quicken even the perception of a Lord 

 Chancellor. In settling disputes of this nature, arbitration is sometimes 

 resorted to by public companies, to avoid the law's delay ; and engineers of 

 eminence are called in to settle the disputed accounts. In all contracts be- 

 tween companies and contractors, it would be well to name two parties, all 

 as referees, in case of dispute, to curb the sole controul of impetuous or 

 peevish engineers. 



The practice of the Board of Ordnance, is to fill up a printed schedule of 

 prices. Take smiths work, for instance, the items enumerated most likely to 

 be wanted, will extend to a hundred articles, of any pattern that the super- 

 intending officer may order, as, articles of wrought iron, materials for day- 

 work or for store, cast iron, exclusive of patterns. The tender is to he " at 

 how much per cent., above or below the prices inserted in the schedule, he 

 is willing to contract for the supplies ;" and only one rate of per eentage 

 must be named above or below all the prices in the schedule ; and he is to 

 make out his bill at these prices, and add to or deduct from the total the per 

 eentage. according to his tender. The generality of tenders are below the 

 prices of the honourable board. The contracts are taken for a term of years, 

 determinable at any period after one year, on either party giving three months 

 notice. Bondsmen, with two securities bound jointly and severally, are 

 taken for the performance of the contract. The superintending officer has 

 the controul of materials as to quality, and imperfections of workmanship, 

 number of and efficiency of men employed. The contractor is to furnish 

 daily a list of men, and weekly a statement of daywork, and how employed, 

 and a list of articles, if any, to which the schedule will not apply. The bills 

 are delivered within 10 days after the expiration of the current quarter, and 

 payment made in the course of the subsequent quarter. In this account of 

 the practice of the honourable Board of Ordnance, we have undoubtedly the 

 nucleus of the principle adopted by the different railway companies ; but 

 the chief point, the principle of a per eentage, has not been adopted, which 

 I think is the safest for all parties, the company and contractor. I have 

 known the practice adopted by a friend of mine, in a public work of great 

 extent ; he sent a schedule of prices to parties, and they were to tender at 

 per cent, on the amount of work (the bills beihg priced by the schedule) at 

 which they would execute the works. In this mode there is no definite 

 quantity fixed, and therefore no addition and deductions as the works pro- 

 gress, and therefore there can be no extras so annoying to all parties con- 

 cerned ; it is more assimilating to measure and value, with the exception, 

 that the scale of prices is fixed before the commencement of the works. 

 There is a custom amongst contractors of pricing the body of their contract, 

 at a different ratio from that of the schedule, in the expectation that there 

 will be more extra works than deductions here; I warn all parties that so 

 doir.g, is decidedly wrong in principle and unexpedient in practice. To 

 avoid the above practice, the Manchester and Leeds Railway company in- 

 serted two schedules in their proposals, the first containing a list at which 

 the tender is computed, t he second containing a list of extra works : in each 

 schedule above 100 items were enumerated. A difficulty often also arises in 

 the measurement of works, as to the custom of the country or trade ; and 



in railway works it is generally expressed, that net measurement only will 

 be allowed, and that brickwork is to include all foundations, digging, pump- 

 ing water, and all punning 1 or ramming back of walls, backing bridges, &c. 



I will now proceed to say a few words on plans, sections, specifications, 

 forms of tender, drafts of contracts, schedules of prices, &c. The two first 

 explain themselves, and the draft of contract is in the province of the lawyer. 

 The specification is supplementary and general ; the latter applies to all con- 

 tracts on a line of railway, and in one case was so voluminous as to extend 

 to 20 folio pages containing 61 clauses. The 61st clause was to the following 

 effect, and will define what is meant by general. " The whole of this speci- 

 fication is to be taken and construed according to the true intent and mean- 

 ing of it, and in case of the construction of any part of it appearing doubtful, 

 the opinion of the engineer as to the intent of any such portion is to be 

 binding upon both parties." The supplementary specification describes the 

 particular works referred to in the general clauses, as for contract No. I. 

 No. 5 L, or any subdivision of a particular line, say commencing at chain 



No. 21, in a field shown in the plan near , and ending at chain 



No. 306, shown in the plan situate near , being in length about 



3 miles, 4 furlongs, 5 chains, " yards, or thereabouts. In the specification 

 a table of the gradients is given, and the number of the bridges, with de- 

 tailed plans of each. The form of tender is as follows : — " To the Committee 



of . I, of , do propose to make and complete the work of 



the portion of Railway, (inclusive or exclusive of the permanent 



way, as the case may be), from — — to, — — according to the plans 

 and specification, within the period and upon the terms and conditions men- 

 tioned and contained in the draft contract exhibited, for the sum of £ s. d., 

 and I have, in the schedule hereto annexed, set forth the prices of the different 

 descriptions of work at which the aggregate amount of this tender is com- 

 puted, and in case this tender shall lie accepted, I hereby undertake to exe- 

 cute a contract according to the draft referred to within 14 days from this 

 date, and propose A B and C D as securities for fhe due performance of such 

 contract." Again, " I hereby offer to execute the whole of the works de- 

 scribed in the specification, &c, and in the event of this tender being accepted, 

 I bind myself to enter into a regular contract, and to find satisfactory se- 

 curity for the due performance of the work, and I agree that the value of 

 any addition to or deduction from the amount of the work specified, shall be 

 calculated at the rates stated in the annexed schedule of prices." In the 

 last case, the real estimate of quantities by the engineer was printed in the 

 schedule, with a description of each kind of work attached, and in the case of 

 the Manchester and Leeds Company before alluded to, the amount of secu- 

 rity required was stated in the conditions of the contract; it was, therefore, 

 necessary for the parties tendering to add to their tender. " And I do hereby 

 undertake that A B and C D shall, within a fortnight from this date, execute 

 a bond to be prepared by the Company for that purpose, in a penal sum 

 equal in amount to 10 per cent, on the amount of my tender." The Great 

 Western Railway fixed a definite sum for the bondsmen to become security 

 for on each contract, not a per eentage ; also that the two sureties be bound 

 jointly and severally with the parties tendering. 



Notwithstanding the arbitrary powers of engineers, the complex array of 

 law, and the exaction of be .ids, they are all found inefficient as regards keep- 

 ing contracts within a specific sum, or the gross amount of tenders. Can 

 there then be any thing said in addition to show the inutility of contracts on 

 the usual plan. 



I should like to see the principle of tendering now in practice by the 

 Board of Ordnance applied to railways, as before alluded to ; and if this 

 plan, with the addition of the quantities (as agreed upon by the con- 

 tractor and engineer, or by their surveyor) were supplied to intending com- 

 petitors, I think it would tend to simplify the cost of public works, and at 

 the same time make the officers of supervision and of the executive look more 

 lovingly on each other. I have no doubt, should Government execute the 

 Irish railways, some such system will he adopted by the Board of Trade. 



I will, in my next, if leisure permit, enter on the principle and construc- 

 tion of earth wagons, which has not, as yet, had the importance bestowed on 

 it that it deserves. In the mean time allow me to subscribe myself, with all 

 respect, 



5/. Ann's, Neivcastle-npon-Tune. Your's obediently, 



O. T. 



1 The cost of punning, per cubic yard, is about twopence, or half the cost 

 of excavation. 



